19 Curious Leo Baekeland Facts Revealed For Kids That Are Worth Reading

Leo Hendrik Baekeland has made enormous contributions to the world of business!

He was very determined as an inventor who worked to turn formaldehyde and phenol (carbolic acid) into a commercially viable product called Bakelite and started his own company called Nepera Chemical Company.

Leo Baekeland was an incredible salesman who not only revolutionized the world by helping to invent plastic but also won numerous awards throughout his lifetime for his many contributions in the field of chemistry.

His creation disproved the idea that synthetic polymers were worse than natural materials like wood or amber. His success in this field aided in the marketing of many other plastic products. He has worked as a professor of chemistry also.

He understands what the market requires as an entrepreneur. He not only invented a tool to address a gap in the market, but he also established a business. He also invented Velox photographic paper.

Baekeland himself said that he was into the field of synthetic resins for money. He always wanted to find a synthetic alternative for natural resins.

Chemists realized at this time that many natural resins and fibers used in coatings are polymers. Baekeland investigated the reactions combining phenol and formaldehyde and developed Novolak, soluble phenol-formaldehyde shellac. It was a flop on the market.

He invested all of his energies and potential in developing a formaldehyde-phenol binder for asbestos which can be molded with hard natural rubber. He finally made a successful polymer product that could be molded.

Bakelite was very unique as it is highly resistant to heat and won’t melt. It was the first plastic to be commercially produced plastic that was entirely synthetic and could be molded.

Bakelite was the first synthetic polymer that began the age of plastic. What boosted the use of Bakelite was its use as an electrical insulator.

It was called the material of a thousand uses. This invention of Baekeland bought a revolution in industries and culture as it revolutionized the 20th century and helped people worldwide in their lives.

Are you interested in learning more about some amazing inventors who changed the world and their inventions in the field of science? Here you can read and enjoy Galileo Galilei facts and Margaret Peterson Haddix facts articles on our website.

Leo Baekeland Life History Facts: Birthdate, Death Date, Family Details

Talking about his personal life, Leo Hendrik Baekeland was born on November 14, 1863, in Ghent, Belgium, and died on February 23, 1994. The parents of Leo Baekeland were Charles Baekeland, who was a cobbler, Rosalie Baekeland, who was a housemaid.

At the age of five, he joined elementary school and later joined the Government Higher Normal School. He spent his early life in Ghent, Belgium.

He received a science degree in chemistry, physics, economics, and mechanics from the Ghent Municipal Technical School. He was married to the daughter of his professor, Celine Swarts, in the year 1889, on August 8.

Leo Baekeland received a scholarship from Ghent City and studied chemistry at the University of Ghent. In the year 1882, he received his degree in Bachelor of Science.

After continuing his studies further, he finished his Ph.D. at 21. In 1887, Leo Baekeland got the opportunity to be a professor of Chemistry and Physics at the Government Higher Normal School in Burges.

He later earned a position as a chemist at a photographic manufacturing company, E. and A. T. Anthony and Company of Richard Anthony, a photographic company.

In the year 1891, he began working as a consulting chemist independently. In 1917, he became a professor of chemistry at Columbia University, where Professor Charles approached him.

Leo Baekeland: Awards Won

Leo Hendrik Baekeland won many awards and several honorary doctorates for the contribution and inventions he made in the field of chemistry. He received John Scott Medal in 1910, Willard Gibbs Medal in 1913, Parkin Medal in 1916, Messel Medal in 1938, and Franklin Medal in the year 1940.

Apart from them, he also won the Grand prize of the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915, the Perkin Medal of the Society of Chemical Industries in 1916, and the Officer Legion d’honneur in 1923.

The Belgian government was happy to confer the coveted ‘Officer of the Order of the Crown’ and ‘Commander of the Order of Leopold’ onto Leo Baekeland as a son of the soil.

He was also a respected member of the Chemical Advisory Committee of the United States Department of Commerce.

The heritage of Baekeland lives on today. The effect of Baekeland’s Bakelite, as the material of choice for a thousand uses, continues to be a part of everyday life and will continue for years to come.

He was also a reputed member of the U.S. Dept. Of Commerce Chemical Advisory Committee, U.S.

Naval Consulting Board, and Nitrate Supply Commission. He was the president of the Chemical Engineering Society in the year 1912 and the Chemical Society in 1924.

He was also bestowed with ‘Officer of the Legion of Honor by the French government and with ‘Commander of the Order of Leopold’ and ‘Officer of the Order of the Crown’ by Belgium. In Ohio, at Arkan, he was incorporated in the ‘National Inventors Hall of Fame’ in the year 1978, after his death.

In 1940, Time Magazine called Leo Baekeland the ‘Father of Plastic’ for his versatile and cheap invention of Bakelite. This material is used in almost every field, which makes it diverse. Baekeland received over 400 patents in his life for the inventions he created.

Leo Baekeland created the heat shield of phenolic resin used on the Jupiter probe in 1991. Leo Baekeland founded General Bakelite in the year 1910.

He also created the Bakelite Corporation of Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation in 1922. Now, the inventions of Baekeland are alive in his trademarks and patents under the Dow Chemical Company. This company manufactures the products used in fire-resistant buildings, electronics, space travel, transportation, and industries.

Leo Baekeland: Role In The Creation Of Plastic

In 1889, Leo Hendrik Baekeland, with his wife Celine, decided to permanently settle in the USA and started working at a photographic firm. He was interested in both science and photography, which helped him land a job as a chemist at E. and A. T. Anthony and Company of Richard Anthony, a photographic company.

Later in 1893, Baekeland left the position of a chemist from that company to start his own company called Nepera Chemical Company at Yonkers, New York.

Photographs were developed through the use of sunlight and photographic plates in the 1800s, which was very difficult for the photographers to finish their work on a cloudy day. Baekeland Leo invented a photographic paper called ‘Velox photographic paper,’ which made it easy for photographs to develop by employing the use of artificial lights.

In the year 1899, George Eastman of the Eastman Kodak purchased the rights of manufacturing Velox photographic paper for a whopping one million dollars.

The invention of Velox photographic paper was a huge success for both Leo and the photography world. This motivated him to shift the focus to make a cheaper, synthetic, and new variety of shellac, which was earlier obtained from the Laccifer lacca beetle.

This was very hard to obtain and more expensive than the synthetic one. Leo, with his assistant, began to research this in 1904 to form a substance that could dissolve solvents to be an effective insular and also be very malleable like rubber.

After spending three years working in the field of chemistry, Baekeland Leo Hendrik accidentally worked with a mixture of formaldehyde and phenol. He noticed that these two chemicals produce shellac residue when combined together.

This residue can be utilized to coat surfaces. After putting this mixture in the Bakelizer, which is a heavy iron pressure cooker type pot, a solid and malleable material came out.

He named this synthetic plastic ‘Bakelite.’ It was very unique and was resistant to very high heat. This made it very useful for the automobile industry and electrical devices.

He got the patent for making Bakelite in 1906 and later founded a Bakelite company called General Bakelite Corporation after four years to sell and manufacture this invention. In the year 1939, this company merged with Union Carbide Corporation.

Bakelite was called the ‘material of a thousand uses’ and extensively used in jewelry, electronics, beads, telephones, and many more. Bakelite, also called “the material of a thousand uses,” was used in everything from billiard balls to telephones, electronics to jewelry.

The chemical name of Bakelite was ‘polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride.’ Bakelite marks the start of the Age of Plastics in the plastics industry.

The annual plastic output in the United States reached over 400000 tons (362873896 kg) in 1945, a year after Baekeland’s death. It can now be found in almost every home item, at every rack of the local supermarket shops, and virtually every general daily use item at homes.

As exemplified in the great phrase from the film The Graduate: “Baekeland’s innovation came to signify an industrial and a cultural revolution.” “I only have one thing to say to you. Plastics, in a nutshell.”

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created many interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy!

If you liked our suggestions for 19 curious Leo Baekeland facts revealed for kids that are worth reading, then why not take a look at tooth facts: How do you know when your wisdom teeth are coming in or a weight loss fact or myth?

Do you lose weight when you poop?